eBay

kyuzo42 · ‎04-17-2018

I've been selling items on eBay stochastically for 10 years now. Recent selling experience has caused me to pull all of my listings.

eBay's new Buying system encourages customers to return items. Instead of having buyers simply push the "Leave Feedback" button, eBay has made it super easy for customers to return items - without paying for the return shipping. The "Leave Feedback" button has changed to "Return Item." An obvious way eBay can help sellers is by making it a little harder for Buying Customers to go through the process of returning an item. Instead, returning an item is clear as day for Buying Customers and the first button available after a sale.

Additionally as many Sellers know, eBay takes a transaction sum immediately after the sale AND a final value sum after the end of the month. This is ridiculous.

rixstuff · ‎04-30-2018

@auctionpet wrote:
@rixstuff wrote:
I have a no return policy. It may cost me sales but it does weed out plenty of "renters" who wear items for a special occasion then return it for a refund and just maybe a buyer thinks twice before buying without doing homework. I get very few returns* and I always respond that I will refund upon reciept of hte item back. Ninety percent of the time, the item never comes back.

*Obviously, if I make a mistake or the item gets damaged in shipping, I do a return but most of the time no. I dont think it has harmed me in any way.
The problem is that even if you have a NO RETURNS policy, ebay still makes the Return This Item button prominent, so a buyer could care less about a seller's policy. Ebay could also care less and has no respect for any seller's policy, if they did, the Return button wouldn't appear so obvious when a seller states no returns.

Ah but see Ebay cant MAKE the person get off their butt and actually send the item back. For some people putting the item in an envelope and schlepping to the PO is too much to ask. Fine with me. If it isnt back in a reasonable amount of time the dispute times out in my favor. At the end of the transaction you get the item OR the money, not both, not neither.

rixstuff · ‎04-30-2018

@auctionpet wrote:
@vintagecraze50 wrote:
The prominent return this item button is there because people have gotten confused on how to start the return process. It is part of the ease of return issues that helps to attract more buyers.
My point is that if a seller doesn't offer returns, there isn't supposed to be a return process. Having the button there makes it look like a buyer can just ignore a seller's policy, which they obviously can. No returns listings, which aren't as described, are covered by the Money Back Guarantee. The button should be for that. If ebay isn't going to have respect for a seller's No Return Policy, then why bother to offer that option.

I have no returns, because I can't afford to foot the bill for simply any reason. If I've made an error or the item arrives damaged or not at all, I've always made things right with the buyer and never needed ebay to force my hand, from day one of my selling tenure here.

Unfortunately, early on many sellers used the No Returns thing to offload misdecribed, broken, or counterfeit items. But honestly back then there were far far far more returns in general for any **bleep** reason.

tatku-0 · ‎04-30-2018

@auntdoris wrote:
eBay favors the foreign sellers and penalizes U.S. sellers.

Absolutely!

ebay now is huge chinese marketplace, individual US sellers cannot afford new free shipping and free returns policy. And, if you buy from China, you CANNOT return for free, if you buy from US - everything on seller, just tell 'nad' 😞

I had returns for items with 'free shipping' (which of course I paid myself) - so I paid shipping TWICE, PP $0.30 fee TWICE, and $0.30 insertion/relisting TWICE

So start selling at other sites, and stop buying overseas

abfabvintage · ‎04-30-2018

@vintagecraze50

Hi, then why the RETURN button after I bought from a seller first week of April: they left feedback when they shipped, I received it on time and left positive feedback using the large Leave Feedback button. Then a few days later this stupid RETURN button appeared? Why would such a button appear when everything was done, finished, closed?

So I did a test, I M2M'd the seller inquiring why would I have this RETURN button since positive feed was left between both. His reply was he had no idea, but since I raised the question, he looked at his own personal account of sold listings (he is a seller most of us use for quarterly coupons... hint) and said the button was not on his personal recently sold listings?

Plus in March 2018 (quarter ending) the RETURN thingy was not there and any return info was only within the standard drop down list. So why encourage a buyer to see/hit that return button when all was well? Just dumber than dumb. It does nothing but facilitate the idea "you know, I think I will return it 'cause I can...maybe I will get it for free after the fact". And if that would happen, how would ebay solve the return issue when all parties were happy, left reciprocal Feed, and done?

Would love to do you a screen shot but for some reason all of my purchase history is gone. Need to look into that, too. Thanks.

I ain't got the brains to make this up (Fantastic Beasts)

d-k_treasures · ‎04-30-2018

@southern*sweet*tea wrote:
@ymeagainlord wrote:
Initially Paypal used to advertise their services as "always free". That didn't last long.
I've had a Paypal account since 2000. Paypal is always free for the buyer. It is always free to receive personal payments or mass payments. It has never been free to receive payments for goods and services.

Yes it was - when they first forced it on us, you could sell with your personal account. You just couldn't accept CC payments with a personal account.

Then they changed it.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

d-k_treasures · ‎04-30-2018

@auntdoris wrote:
This is true unless you have bought from China. Then you are out of luck. Then all of the advantages are in favor of the seller and not the buyer. eBay favors the foreign sellers and penalizes U.S. sellers.

No it isn't. Just file SNAD, wait until they can't send you a label or won't send you the money to return it(if they want it back), and call CS and you will be refunded.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

d-k_treasures · ‎04-30-2018

@cjscupboard wrote:
@d-k_treasures wrote:
@m60driver wrote:
That Ebay gives us a discount at all indicates they do get a discount. We will not know what that discount is, but I assume that it is greater than what is forwarded to the seller as that has been my business experience over the past many decades. As for customer service costs, apart from all the whining here, I think the majority of sellers are like myself and just accept returns without calling customer service. Over the past 19 years of selling on Ebay, I have contacted customer service perhaps four times. Heck for most of my small items I just refund and tell the customer to donate the item to charity.

And I would still be gobsmacked that Ebay got less than a 50% discount. But even if, for the sake of argument, we say they get a 25% discount, that is mostly net profit that would add up quickly given the volume of sales.
Ebay gets the commbase+ discount. They pass that off to TRS sellers. They do get discounts from Fed Ex or UPS, but not USPS. The only reason the big A gets a discount from USPS is because they are presorting and only using them for the 'last mile'. Ebay can't do that.

Ebay does get a discount from USPS. The last USPS label I printed through Ebay was a first class & it showed that I got a 26% Ebay discount (I'm TRS) . Who's to say that Ebay didn't negotiate a 30%, 40%, or even 50% discount for themselves & only passes on to us TRS a 26% discount & even less to non-TRS sellers??

Ebay gets the same discount that any other seller of online USPS labels get - CommBasePlus. However, whle other sites pass on these benefits to the seller, ebay only passes them onto TRS sellers. Non-TRS sellers get only the CommBase discount(which is what you pay if you use Endicia, Stamps, etc.).

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

millienocket · ‎06-11-2018

millienocket · ‎06-11-2018

My complaint is that, like everything else, returning an item is not -- and should not be -- a one-size-fits-all deal.

I am unhappy that we have only a few "options" for settling a problem with a customer. For years, with the exception of the number of days, this has been my return policy:

"Money back if returned within 30 days if you received an item that is not as described in the listing or is broken. If the buyer decides to return it for reasons other than that, buyer pays return shipping and a 20% restocking fee."

I want to make things right when the reason for the return is something I did or didn't do: if I misdescribed it, if it was broken or not working.

For too long,I had people wearing clothes and then sending them back -- usually uncleaned -- and similar things, or despite the fact that I include measurements of a garment as well as the size, return clothes because the clothes didn't fit due to the fact that they didn't measure or care what the measurements are.

So instead of giving a monetary break to those who truly were harmed by a sale and not to those who change their minds or whatever, I have to give everyone the same solution or allow no returns at all.

Makes no sense to me!

And the apparent fact that there is no way to let eBay know our opinions stinks further.

lonewanderer1553 · ‎06-11-2018

I'm not sure I understand your reasoning. eBay's primary concern is profit, and there's no profit in pushing buyers toward refunds and returns. If you're experiencing a high volume of returns, it seems more likely that something may be wrong with your listing practices - e.g. items are being described in insufficient detail, your packaging methods are causing items to become damaged during shipment, you're misrepresenting item condition or functionality, etc. It doesn't help if you're dealing with collectors merchandise. Collectors are much, much more fastidious about item condition than your average buyer.

d-k_treasures · ‎06-11-2018

@lonewanderer1553 wrote:
I'm not sure I understand your reasoning. eBay's primary concern is profit, and there's no profit in pushing buyers toward refunds and returns. If you're experiencing a high volume of returns, it seems more likely that something may be wrong with your listing practices - e.g. items are being described in insufficient detail, your packaging methods are causing items to become damaged during shipment, you're misrepresenting item condition or functionality, etc. It doesn't help if you're dealing with collectors merchandise. Collectors are much, much more fastidious about item condition than your average buyer.

There is now, exactly as how we suspected it would be.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

ted_200 · ‎06-11-2018

Streamlining the return process for buyer's actually does serve to benefit the seller as it improves an already poor experience for one of your customers and strengthens their confidence in buying on eBay in the future. Buyer's are not going to return an item simply because they see the option to do so, but instead will seek out a return when they are not satisfied with their purchase.

Well, a "poor experience" implies a SNAD situation. For a simple remorse return, it may well be a poor experience, but not one the seller is responsible for causing. I will reiterate that the bulk of "poor experiences" my buyers (and former buyers) have had were the result of something eBay did, not something I did.

In any event, I've only had two actual returns in over 6,000 transactions. Those were some time ago, and both were remorse returns, handled "manually" by me via a Messages exchange with the buyer. The current Returns process which eBay refers to as "streamlined" is not any such thing. It's complicated, and it often produces a hostile, confrontational, and frustrating experience for all parties involved.

I have had other "Returns Requests" (which were actually SNAD claims), not a single one of which ever resulted in any return. All of these were resolved directly with the buyer by me, which is how it should work, and it would have produced a poorer experience for everyone involved to have simply given them a Free Return Shipping label.

In 11 years of eBay selling, I have received 14 negative feedbacks, 100% of which were the result of buyer frustration over eBay policy/functionality. I got 13 of those revised. That's not to say I haven't ever done anything that deserved a negative feedback, it's just that I didn't ever get one for it, because I resolve problems in a way that makes buyers satisfied. If that involves a return, I'm happy to accomodate it. But to date, throwing a Free Return Shipping label at the problem has yet to be a buyer's preferred solution.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

goodluckselling · ‎06-11-2018

@jonathankirkland wrote:
@slippinjimmy wrote:
@m60driver wrote:
Well, the primary online competitor (not to mention Costco and Walmart) allows returns with few questions asked so it should not be surprising that Ebay follows suit in order to attempt to remain competitive. But people do not see the glaring difference. Ebay profits from the postage in both directions, less so the competiton. So you now have to have either high gross profit margins or high volume or something inbetween to make a net profit over time.

And "selling stochastically"?? I would venture to bet there is a pattern. My pattern varies with the seasons.
Explain to me (in detail) how eBay profits from returns?

I realize you aren't asking me, but I'd just like to add:

Ebay doesn't profit from return. What ebay profits from is lulling buyers into a false sense of security that they are 110% safe buying anything on ebay and if they aren't happy for any reason, including the fact that it's raining outside, they can return the item with absolutely zero cost to them.

This makes people want to buy more, even those who may have previously been apprehensive.

But eBay does not make this promise. This sounds like something you made up? eBay has a money back guarantee not free returns on everything. Click here to learn how the MBG works